PENTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. ISr 



(which arc alwaj-s mucronate) are nearly equal and ele- 

 g-anily approximate. Leaflets from 2 to 7 or 8 inches 

 long; not more than 2 to 4 liiies wide, attenuated at both 

 extremities. Involucre of few or many leaves (6 to 12) 

 according' to the magnitude of the plant, segments acu- 

 minated, entire or lacmiate. Flowers white; petals cor- 

 dately inflected. Calix obsolete. Styles long, persistent 

 and defected, having capitate stigm.as (after tiie manner 

 of the genus?) Fruit small, oval, laterally compressed, 

 so as to produce a narrow commissure. Seed partly ovate, 

 with 5 equal ridges and 4 intermediate grooves. 



This plant is unquestionably the S. loii^ifo liv7n of Puvsh, 

 Flor. Am. 1. p. 194. and also S. temtifoUiim of Muli- 

 lenberg's Catalogue, as I have examined a specimen 

 which lie had so named. 



Of this genus there are 9 genuine species in Europe 

 (1 in Greece with yeliow flowers); 7 at the Cape of Good 

 Hope; 2 in Japan, and 1 in China, 1 or 2 in North Africa. 

 Vttw of them probably accord with the European and 

 North American part of the genus. 



2. SISON. L. (Hone-wort.) 



'• Fruit ovate, solid, (seed) dorsally tricos- 

 tate, intervals convex, contracted at the sides 

 (laterally compressed); commissure excavated. 

 Iiirolucrum iew-leavcd or none.'' Spuengel. 



Involucrum 3 or 4 leaved or wanting; umbellets slender, 

 few flowered, involucell about 4-leaved. Leaves ternate 

 or pseudo-pinnate, often witii t!ie ultimate segments trifid. 



Species. 1. S. pud Hum. lAgusticuin pusillnm. Persoon's 

 Synopsis, l.p. 315. ^Ethusa divaricatu? Sp. Probably a 

 Buniiim? 2- trifoliauim. 3. margimitum. Slum rigidiusl^ 



3. ^ERIGEMA.f 



Ca^ix none. Coro//a uniform. Pe^a/s obov ate, 

 sprcadiug, entire. Stijles persistent, subulate, 

 very lonj^. Fr?iif oval, somewhat laterally com- 



t From 'tipiyivetcty a name of Aurora, the harbinger of day 

 or of the spring, as derived from ^ccp^ or sjfj the spring, and 

 yiyvof^x I, I exist, or come forth. This plant is so called ia 

 allusion to its early appearance in the spring; being the first 

 conspicuous flowering plant in the United States, blooming often 

 amidst the snow, about the ISth or 15th of March. 



